How Barbie became the world’s most popular doll: it had poor sales at the start and was criticised by feminists in the 1970s – now, it’s made billions and Margot Robbie will play her in a new film

Jun 9 , 2023

Barbie dolls are the most popular dolls in the world and today, there’s an ever wider range to choose from, including a Black Barbie and a Barbie with down syndrome. Photo: AP

Ruth Handler was not taken seriously when she came up with the idea of Barbie in the 1950s, inspired by a German sex toy – but sales took off after she aired an ad on Disney’s The Mickey Mouse Club

By 2009, more than a billion Barbies had been sold worldwide and 9 out of 10 American girls owned one – and they had been on the market long enough to become collectors’ pieces

Ruth Handler, the brains behind Barbie, had an idea in the 1950s. She wanted to show girls they could be anything they wanted to be.

The American businesswoman saw this opportunity as a gap in the toy market at the time and decided to launch a doll for girls that wasn’t a baby, but a woman – with a woman’s body, a job, and later, a boyfriend.

Margot Robbie stars in Barbie, the highly-anticipated film directed by Greta Gerwig. Photo: TNS

After being warned it was a bad idea and that no one would buy it, Barbie was a huge hit. Mattel, Handler’s toy company, went on to make billions of dollars off the doll. In the 1970s, Barbie became a symbol that feminists hated for creating unrealistic ideas about bodies, upholding gender stereotypes and whitewashing ideas about beauty.

Barbie dolls displayed at a workshop in the Mattel design centre as the iconic doll turned 60 in December 2018. Photo: AFP

But she kept selling and remains the most popular doll in the world. In July, the highly-anticipated Barbie film, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie as the titular character, will be released.

Here’s how Barbie took over the world:

It all began in the 1950s with a woman named Ruth Handler

Toys exhibited at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, on January 9. Photo: May Tse

In the 1950s, Ruth Handler, part-owner of a toy company called Mattel, noticed her daughter preferred to play with adult paper dolls instead of her plastic baby dolls. She saw a gap in the market.